Many knowledge workers have years of education and experience in training for their positions, yet have almost no training in how to effectively influence decision makers. “The great majority of people tend to focus downward. They are occupied with efforts rather than results. As a result they render themselves ineffectual”.

Many years ago, a VP participant of a training session I facilitated asked me the perfectly reasonable question, “Does anyone who goes to one of these leadership development programs ever really change?”. Why would people go through a training, promise to implement what he/she had learned, and then not do it? It’s follow-up.

I was first asked this perfectly reasonable, and for me life-altering, question by a Fortune 100 company executive vice president for whose company I was preparing training sessions. Perhaps he had an eye on the training budget? Executive development is more than an event, training program, motivating speech or inspiring retreat.

Train everyone to think before speaking and to ask themselves, not just, "Is this comment what I believe?" I am amazed at how much time gets wasted by people who complain all of the time. Even more amazing, almost a third spend 20 hours or more per month doing so. When I first read this study, I couldn't believe it. to implement.

Have you ever attended a training session entitled Stupid Things We're Doing That We Need to Stop Doing? On the surface, 'purpose' and 'goal' seem to be similar, if not synonymous, terms. But in parsing the definitions, we discover they're very different concepts. Purpose is the 'why' behind any thought or deed. Probably not. Hardly. he said.

One of my teachers, Dr. Bob Tannenbaum, had invented ‘sensitivity training’, published a popular article in the Harvard Business Review, and was a full professor. 'Lesson #1: It’s easier to see our problems (let’s call them behavioral challenges) in others than to see them in ourselves. was impressed! I ranted. he asked.
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I trained many generals that year. The reason I devote so much energy to identifying interpersonal challenges in successful people is because the higher you go, the more your problems are behavioral. At the higher levels, all the leading players are technically skilled, smart, and up-to-date on the technical aspects of their job.
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All were trained to respond to co-workers on their feedback using a very simple follow-up process. At the end of the training, leaders were asked in a confidential survey if they were going to do what was taught in the program. The training that they attended produced no more change than staying home and watching sitcoms.
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Another advantage was that his direct reports were getting on-the-job training that could help them take on larger responsibilities in the future. 'Can Delegation Kill? Many leaders think they need to delegate more to be more effective as leaders. This is frequently not true. Kill morale, careers, and even a company. My answer is “no.”.
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have asked over 50,000 participants in my training programs to rate themselves in terms of their performance relative to their professional peers – 80-85% rank themselves in the top 20% of their peer group – and about 70% rank themselves in the top 10%. behave this way. am successful. Therefore, I must be successful because I behave this way.
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